Friends and Neighbors: Aashlyn Rawlings

Kimball's Aashlyn Rawlings, along with her brother and some friends, went on quite the adventure this past week.

Rawlings met Shia LaBeouf the star of "Transformers", "Holes", and Disney's "Even Stevens". LaBeouf along with his art collaborators of more than two years, Nastja Säde Rönkkö and Luke Turner were all in Kimball last Thursday as part of their latest piece of performance art.

The trio is hitchhiking across the country and allowing the public to pick them up at coordinates the group posted online -- and take them anywhere across the country.

Titled #TAKEMEANYWHERE, and brokered by the Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art in Colorado and The Finnish Institute in London, the piece runs through June 23.

Since it began, on Monday, May 23, LaBeouf, 29, has tweeted latitude and longitude coordinates for a spot on Colorado State Highway 7 near the Chapel on the Rock in Allenspark, Colo., followed by the coordinates of a tourism center off I-87 south of Cheyenne, outside T Joe's RV Park near Cheyenne and then stopping in Kimball.

"I met him (Shia) at the Super 8 in Kimball," she said excitedly. "I heard he was there so I went up and waited for a few minutes when he appeared!I was speechless!"

Rawlings added that the movie star requested that she and Kimballite Rusty Warren take him and his two companions somewhere through the state.

According to Rawlings, it was Warren that suggested Omaha.

"He said he'd love to go to Omaha, and that we should meet them before noon to leave," Rawlings said. "I immediately rushed to my work, considering that I was supposed to work last night, and a co-worker of mine, Serena Kizziar, offered to either work for me or have someone cover for me."

"From there I went straight home to put on make up and ask my step-father if we could use his van," she added.

Rawlings added that once her step-father understood what the star and his friends were trying to accomplish with the hitchhike venture, and also understood that his daughter would be safe, he agreed.

What is a road trip without your friends, even with a Hollywood star?

Rawlings called her friend, Ashley Hickman, and invited her along for the special, once-in-a-lifetime trip.

She added that LaBeouf and his friends encouraged her to bring a group along, "the more the merrier."

They gathered a group, including LaBeouf, his friends, Rawlings, Hickman, Warren, Brennan McDonald, Rawling's brother, and Wade Warren, Rusty's son.

"We hit the road!" she said "Along the way we stopped at Lake Mac (McConaughy) near Ogallala. We sat on the beach and played guitar and sang."

They also stopped in Kearney to visit what Rawlings referred to as "the colorful bridge" or The Archway in Kearney, a bridge of more than 310 feet which spans across I-80 and houses detailed displays of history.

While driving the unlikely group did what comes naturally on road trips, they visited, shared life stories and got to know one another.

LaBeouf stated in an online post, "This new project is all about "making friends." His friend Rönkkö added, "It's about trust, and also a journey. I'm more interested in the in-between state than arriving at a destination."

LaBeouf added, "There's definitely an 'Easy Rider' kind of nostalgia to it, but there's also a futuristic 'Blade Runner' GPS thing going on. ... With everything we do, we're trying to find meaning, make meaning."

The artists' mission was accomplished here in Kimball, as they made new friends and shared with them the experience of a lifetime.

"It was the most amazing experience I've ever been a part," Rawlings said. "Shia and his friends are amazing down to earth people!"

She added that be the end of the trip, they felt like they had known each other for a lifetime.

"The goodbye had tears, on both ends," concluded Rawlings, "and it is definitely a trip I will never forget!"